The Growth of Twitter: A Conversation with CEO Dick Costolo

Summary

In this article, we discuss the growth and evolution of Twitter with CEO Dick Costolo. He shares the changes he implemented to ensure consistent management practices and organizational clarity. Twitter’s vision is “Twitter brings you close,” which is based on the various ways people use the platform to connect with others. The challenge for Twitter is to address the gap between awareness and engagement on the platform, which they are attempting to do through discover. We also learn about Twitter’s business model, which is mainly focused on advertising.

Twitter’s Vision: “Twitter Brings You Close”
The Challenge: Addressing the Gap between Awareness and Engagement
Twitter’s Upgrade to Hashtag Discover Feature
Twitter’s Business Model: Advertising

Twitter’s Vision: “Twitter Brings You Close”

Since becoming CEO of Twitter in 2011, Dick Costolo has implemented changes to ensure consistent management practices and organizational clarity. One of the changes he made was combining design and engineering under a single executive to work together in shaping solutions. He also brought back Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, to ensure that the voice of the inventor was incorporated into the product’s evolution.

Twitter’s vision is “Twitter brings you close,” which is based on the various ways people use the platform to connect with others. The behavior of Twitter users varies, but the common thread is that Twitter brings people closer to each other.

The Challenge: Addressing the Gap between Awareness and Engagement

The challenge for Twitter is to address the gap between awareness and engagement on the platform. While many people are aware of Twitter and have accounts, not everyone is actively engaging with the platform. Twitter is attempting to address this gap through discover, a feature that helps users understand what’s happening on Twitter that’s relevant to them.

Twitter’s Upgrade to Hashtag Discover Feature

Recently, Twitter announced an upgrade to their hashtag discover feature. This feature is based on the user’s interests, which Twitter determines based on the accounts they follow. Twitter is focused on making this feature simple and easy to use for both new and existing users.

Twitter’s Business Model: Advertising

In terms of the business of Twitter, the company is on track to generate over a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue this year, mostly from advertising. The main type of advertising on Twitter is promoted tweets, which are initially organic content on the platform that go out to a company’s followers before becoming an ad. This approach helps prevent spammy ads and encourages companies to create meaningful content that won’t risk losing followers.

Conclusion

Twitter has come a long way since its inception, and under the leadership of Dick Costolo, the platform has continued to evolve and grow. With a focus on bringing people closer together and addressing the gap between awareness and engagement, Twitter is committed to providing a valuable platform for its users and advertisers alike.